JP2000347704A - Device composed of plural units performing mutual backup and its start system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device composed of a plurality of units performing mutual backup which can be started with appropriate backup data all the time and its start system. SOLUTION: A unit 100 taking charge of the execution of the function of a device, a unit 200 storing main backup data and a unit 300 storing sub backup data are respectively provided with fields A3, A1 and A2 in which date and hour information of when operation is started is described/updated, the unit 200 storing the main backup data and the unit 300 storing sub backup data are respectively provided with fields B1 and B2 in which the information of date and hour when backup data is copied is described/updated, and in the case of starting a device, backup data is selected by referring to the date and hour information described in the fields A3, A1 and A2, and the date and hour information described in the fields B1 and B2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus constituted by a plurality of units for mutually backing up each other and a start-up method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An apparatus which is activated by setting various parameters usually stores the set parameters in a non-volatile memory and performs backup as backup data. This is to prevent inconvenience even if the power is cut off for some reason during operation of the apparatus. That is, if you do not have backup data,
When the power is cut off and the system is restored, the user must re-enter the previously set parameters.If the number of parameters is large, the operation becomes complicated and time-consuming, and erroneous settings may occur. It is also a cause.

[0003] Such backup data is
For example, there are devices having the same unit, such as a terminal device disclosed in JP-A-63-191216, "Terminal device capable of automatic restarting".
(Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) By providing backup data to a device management control unit different from the function execution unit that executes the normal function, such as a device composed of a plurality of units such as an optical transmission device typified by a device. There is a device that is. However, in the case of such an apparatus composed of a plurality of units, it is not possible to start up using the backed up data when the apparatus management control unit having backup data is replaced. Therefore, in the case of an apparatus composed of a plurality of units, a mutual backup method is adopted in which the setting parameters are backed up in another unit (referred to as a backup subunit) in addition to the apparatus management control unit.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a conventional mutual backup system. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 100 denotes a function execution unit having operation information 10; 200, a device management control unit having backup data 20; This is a backup subunit having backup data 21. In the case of this mutual backup system, the device management control unit 200 having the backup data 20
Even if a failure occurs, the apparatus can be started up using the backup data 21 held by the backup subunit 300.

[0005]

As described above, in the mutual backup system, even if the device management control unit fails, the device can be started using the backup data held by the backup subunit. ,
In the conventional case, when starting up the device after replacing the device management control unit, there is a problem as to which backup data is used to start up the device. That is, if both the backup data 20 and the backup data 21 are the latest backup data, any data may be used, and the backup data of the normal device management control unit is used. However, if the first device management control unit (referred to as U1) breaks down and is extracted, and another device management control unit (referred to as U2) is mounted to operate the device, and the setting parameters are changed at this time, the device The backup data of the management control unit U2 and the backup subunit is updated. Then, when the device management control unit U1 is repaired and replaced with U2 and the device is started up, the device is started up using old backup data held by the device management control unit U1. was there.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an apparatus comprising a plurality of units performing mutual backup, which can always start up the apparatus with appropriate backup data, and starting up the apparatus. It aims to provide a scheme. Prior art related to the present invention is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-32501.
JP-A-2-278411, JP-A-10-8437
Although there is a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-107, the present invention is a method for performing mutual backup related to the startup of a single device composed of a plurality of units, and differs from these prior arts in the application field, configuration, and effects. To

[0007]

An apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
An apparatus is composed of a plurality of units, one of which is a unit (referred to as a first unit) responsible for executing a function, and main backup data is stored in another unit (referred to as a second unit). The sub-backup data is stored in another unit (referred to as a third unit), and the unit includes a plurality of units that perform a mutual backup. Operation information columns A3, A1, and A2 for describing / updating date and time information when the operation of the apparatus is started are respectively provided in the third units, and the second unit and the third unit are respectively provided with the second and third units. The backup unit that describes / updates the date and time information when the backup data is copied from the second unit to the third unit. Information column B1, B2 and, apparatus enables copying said backup data only when it is in operating state, also the said operation information only in the operation information column A2 when copying the backup data is performed column A1
And control means for writing the same date / time information as the date / time information described in the above. When starting the apparatus, the date / time information described in the operation information columns A3, A1, A2 and the backup execution information column It is characterized in that either the main backup data or the sub backup data is selected with reference to the date and time information described in B1 and B2. Further, the apparatus is an optical transmission apparatus. In addition, the optical transmission device is an SDH (Sync
hronous Digital Hierarchy) device. Further, in the system according to the present invention, an apparatus is composed of a plurality of units, one of which is a unit (referred to as a first unit) responsible for executing a function, and the other is a unit.
The main backup data is stored in one unit (referred to as a second unit), and the other unit (referred to as a third unit) includes a plurality of units that store sub-backup data and perform mutual backup. In the method of starting up the device,
Operation information columns A3, A1, A for describing / updating date / time information when operation of the apparatus is started in each of the first unit, the second unit, and the third unit.
2, the second unit and the third unit, respectively, from the second unit to the third unit,
Backup execution information fields B1 and B2 for describing / updating date and time information when the backup data is copied
And the date / time information described in the operation information column A1 in the operation information column A2 only when the backup data is copied, and only when the backup data is copied. A1 = A3 and A2 = A3, or A1 = A3,
If A2 = A3, but B1 is not older than B2, the apparatus is started using the main backup data, and A1 = A3, A2 = A3, but B1
Is older than B2, or A1 = A3 and not A2 =
If A3, the device is started using the sub-backup data, and A2 = A instead of A1 = A3.
If the number is not 3, the apparatus is started up with the parameters newly input by the user.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an embodiment of an apparatus configuration for explaining an apparatus composed of a plurality of units for performing mutual backup and a start-up method thereof according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a first unit (referred to as a function execution unit) that controls the execution of a function in an apparatus, and has only operation information 10. Reference numeral 200 denotes a second unit for managing and controlling the device (hereinafter referred to as a device management control unit), which has operation information 11, backup data 20, and backup execution information 30. Reference numeral 300 denotes a third unit (referred to as a backup subunit) for performing backup when the device management control unit 200 fails, and has operation information 12, backup data 21, and backup execution information 31.

The operation information is date and time information when the operation of the apparatus is started, and the operation information is the operation information A3 of the function execution unit 100 when the apparatus is started up.
The operation information A1 of the device management control unit 200 is updated to the date and time. The backup subunit operation information A2 indicates that the date and time of the operation information A1 indicate that the backup was performed from the device management control unit 200 to the backup subunit 300 (meaning that the backup data was copied). It is updated to the date and time of the information A2.

The backup data 20 and 21 are data in which parameters set in the apparatus for performing backup are stored. In the backup execution information, when backup is performed from the device management control unit 200 to the backup subunit 300, the date and time information is written or the date and time is updated. The backup from the device management control unit 200 to the backup unit 300 cannot be executed unless the device is in the operation state. Therefore, the date and time of the backup execution information 30 and 31 and the date and time information of the operation information 11 and 12 are not used. Do not have the same date and time. That is, if both the device management control unit 200 and the backup unit 300 have not been replaced, the operation information 1
1 and 12 have the same date and time, and the backup execution information 30 and 31 have the same date and time. However, the date and time of the operation information 11 and 12 have an earlier date and time.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation. S1 to S7 are operation steps, A1 is operation information (date and time) of the device management control unit 200, A2 is operation information (date and time) of the backup subunit 300. Time), A3 is operation information (date and time) of the function execution unit 100, B1 is backup execution information of the device management control unit 200, and B2 is backup execution information of the backup subunit 300.

In step S1, it is determined whether or not A1 = A3. If the operation information A3 and the operation information A1 match, the device management control unit 20
0 means that it has not been exchanged, so step S
Then, it is determined whether or not A2 = A3. If A2 = A3 is not satisfied in step S2, it can be determined that the backup data of the backup subunit 300 is old data. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S4, and the apparatus is started using the backup data 20 of the apparatus management control unit 200. increase.

If A2 = A3 in step S2, the process proceeds to step S3. Normally, B1 = B2. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S4 to start up the apparatus using the backup data 20 of the apparatus management control unit 200. May have an earlier date and time than B2. That is, the device management control unit U1 that has backed up the latest backup data is replaced by the device management control unit U2 due to a failure or the like, the device is started up once using the backup data 21 of the backup subunit 300, and then operation of the device is started. When the operation is stopped and the apparatus is started again, the operation information becomes A1 = A2 = A3, but the date and time of B1 is earlier than B2, and the backup data 20 is older data. It starts up using the 300 backup data 21.

If A1 = A3 is not satisfied in step S1, that is, if the device management control unit 200 has been replaced due to a failure or the like, the process proceeds to step S5 where A2 = A3.
It is determined whether or not. If A2 = A3, the backup data 21 can be determined to be the latest data, so the process moves to step S6 and the apparatus is started up using the backup data 21 of the backup subunit 300.
If A2 is not equal to A3 in step S5, it can be determined that none of the backup data 20 and 21 is the latest data, and in step S7 the user inputs parameters and starts up the apparatus.

In the above-described embodiment, the multi-unit device in which the present invention is implemented is described as an optical transmission device such as an SDH device. It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the optical transmission device. The unit for storing the main backup data is the device management control unit, and the unit for storing the sub-backup data is the backup sub-unit. However, it is needless to say that the units are not limited to these units.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the apparatus composed of a plurality of units for performing mutual backup and its start-up system are provided by providing the device management control unit with the operation information A1 and the backup execution information B1, Operation information A2 and backup execution information B2 in the subunit
A1 = A3 or not, A2 = A3 or not, B
By determining whether B2 is older than 1 or not, there is an effect that the backup can always be performed with appropriate backup data even in the mutual backup method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an embodiment of the device configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a conventional mutual backup method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 11, 12 Operation information 20, 21, Backup data 30, 31, Backup execution information 100 First unit (function execution unit) 200 Second unit (device management control unit) 300 Third unit (backup subunit)

Claims (4)

[Claims] An apparatus is composed of a plurality of units, one of which is a unit (referred to as a first unit) for performing a function and another unit (referred to as a second unit). An apparatus comprising a plurality of units that store main backup data and further store sub-backup data in another unit (referred to as a third unit) and perform mutual backup, wherein the first unit and the second unit Operation information columns A3, A1, A for writing / updating date and time information when the operation of the apparatus is started in each of the second unit and the third unit.
2, the second unit and the third unit, respectively.
Backup execution information columns B1 and B2 for writing / updating date and time information when the backup data is copied from the second unit to the third unit; and the backup unit only when the device is in an operation state. Control means for enabling data copy, and in which the same date and time information as the date and time information described in the operation information column A1 is written in the operation information column A2 only when the backup data is copied. The operation information fields A3, A1, A
2 to select either the main backup data or the sub backup data with reference to the date and time information described in the backup execution information columns B1 and B2. A device composed of multiple units that perform mutual backup. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said apparatus is an optical transmission apparatus. 3. The optical transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the optical transmission device is an SDH (Synchronous).
3. An apparatus comprising a plurality of units for performing mutual backup according to claim 2, wherein the apparatus is a Digital Hierarchy apparatus. 4. An apparatus is composed of a plurality of units, one of which is a unit (referred to as a first unit) for performing a function and another unit (referred to as a second unit). A main backup data is stored, and another one unit (referred to as a third unit) stores sub-backup data. An operation information column A3, A1, A in which date / time information when the operation of the device is started is written / updated in each of the first unit, the second unit, and the third unit.
2, the second unit and the third unit, respectively.
Backup execution information columns B1 and B2 for writing / updating date and time information when the backup data is copied from the second unit to the third unit; and the backup unit only when the device is in an operation state. Control means for enabling data copy, and in which the same date and time information as the date and time information described in the operation information column A1 is written in the operation information column A2 only when the backup data is copied. A1 = A3, A2 = A3, or A1
If A1 = A3 and A2 = A3, but B1 is not older than B2, start up the device using the main backup data, and A1 = A3, A2 = A3, but B1 If B2 is older than A2 or A1 = A3 and A2 = A3, the apparatus is started using the sub-backup data. If A1 = A3 and A2 = A3, the user sets a new one. Start-up method for the equipment consisting of a plurality of units that perform mutual backup to start up the equipment with the parameters entered in